MEANING AND GRAMMAR An Introduction to Semantics

CHIERCHIA, Gennaro & McCONNELL-GINET, Sally

ISBN 10: 0262031620 / ISBN 13: 9780262031622

Published by MIT Press, Cambridge MA & London, 1990

About this Item

xiii+476; pristine bar a previous owner;s small sig.to front endpaper. Preface ends amusingly 'We have written this book for the same reasons we chose this field for a living: we want to be rich and famous.' A throrough overview of the topic which extends to issues beyond linguistics alone such as philosophy, logic and psychology. Note: quoted shipping rates are calculated for 500-700 gram net weight, cost will be modified up or down as appropriate outside this range. Size: 15.5 Cms x 23.5 Cms.

Seller Inventory # 009802

Bibliographic Details

• Title: MEANING AND GRAMMAR An Introduction to Semantics
• Publisher: MIT Press, Cambridge MA & London
• Publication Date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262031620
• ISBN 13: 9780262031622
• Binding: Glossy Printed boards
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Condition: Fine (-)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Psychology & Human Sciences
  • Language & Linguistics
  • Philosophy

About this title

Synopsis

This self-contained introduction to natural language semantics addresses the major theoretical questions in the field. The authors introduce the systematic study of linguistic meaning through a sequence of formal tools and their linguistic applications. Starting with propositional connectives and truth conditions, the book moves to quantification and binding, intensionality and tense, and so on. To set their approach in a broader perspective, the authors also explore the interaction of meaning with context and use (the semantics-pragmatics interface) and address some of the foundational questions, especially in connection with cognition in general. They also introduce a few of the most accessible and interesting ideas from recent research to give the reader a bit of the flavor of current work in semantics. The organization of this new edition is modular; after the introductory chapters, the remaining material can be covered in flexible order. The book presupposes no background in formal logic (an appendix introduces the basic notions of set theory) and only a minimal acquaintance with linguistics. This edition includes a substantial amount of completely new material and has been not only updated but redesigned throughout to enhance its user-friendliness.

About the Author

Jean-Jacques Laffont was Professor of Economics at theUniversite des Sciences Sociales de Toulouse and the InstitutUniversitaire de France and Director of the Institut d'EconomieIndustrielle.